


In Peace

by koalathebear



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Character Death, F/M, Fluff, Kid Fic, Non-Canon Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-25
Updated: 2013-08-25
Packaged: 2017-12-24 15:01:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/941349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/koalathebear/pseuds/koalathebear
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Just a fluffy bit of fic that popped into my head.  It's Mako/Herc with references to past Raleigh/Mako</p><p>"Mako sits on the beach, her toes curling in the sand as she sun beats down on her head. It seems strange for her to be sitting at the beach on a picnic blanket. For a very long time, beaches and coastline have been inextricably linked to the kaiju, Kaiju Blue, contamination, death and destruction. Japan's coastlines will be contaminated for decades to come."</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Peace

Mako sits on the beach, her toes curling in the sand as she sun beats down on her head. It seems strange for her to be sitting at the beach on a picnic blanket. For a very long time, beaches and coastline have been inextricably linked to the kaiju, Kaiju Blue, contamination, death and destruction. Japan's coastlines will be contaminated for decades to come.

Australia is different though and still has huge expanses of coastline, unsullied by the kaiju. The Australians continue to be indomitable sun worshippers and beach enthusiasts, determined to enjoy sun, surf and sand. With their typical irreverence, names have sprung up like Mutavore Sands and the Kaiju Crap Dunes. The local pub is famous for its spicy Kaiju Wings – chicken wings by any other name.

"Yuki!" she calls out to the toddler, stumbling along in the sand a few metres from the picnic blanket. Yukiko (由希子) means "rare child" in Japanese, but Yuki suits her better, with her brown curls and chubby cheeks. She is a beautiful child, born into a world without kaiju and Mako's eyes are warm with love and tenderness as she watches Yuki's marvel at the sun, the sand and the water.

The sun causes a tinge of red to show in Yuki's brown hair. Genetics makes it impossible for Yuki to ever have red hair but Mako likes to pretend that one day, her hair will be as rich and red as her father's. 

Mako smiles as the tall man with the closely cropped hair and steady blue eyes crouches down in the sand to lift the small, laughing child into his arms, running with her to the water and splashing her in the water.

He straightens for a moment as he sees Mako watching him, the small child held securely in his arms against his t-shirt which is damp from the waves. His piercing gaze studies her face narrowly, his gaze warm and loving, the intensity of his emotions steady and strong.

On the day that Raleigh Becket closed the Breach and fell to his death with his Jaeger Gipsy Danger, he saved the world but left his co-pilot Mako Mori completely alone in the world. With the death of Stacker Pentecost and Raleigh Becket, Mako had been left to face the new world with no one.

In hindsight, it was natural for her to have turned to Hercules Hansen, the veteran Jaeger pilot who had also suffered great sorrow following Operation Pitfall. His son and co-pilot Chuck had perished when Stacker Pentecost had detonated the bomb strapped to Striker Eureka's back. It had been a day of great sacrifice and loss and when a cold and shivering Mako Mori had been retrieved from the sea by the Sikorskys, only Marshall Herc Hansen had been successful in reaching her through her shock and grief.

Herc had genuinely needed her assistance and support. Inheriting the heavy weight of Pentecost's duties and authority had been no easy matter and Mako had become a trusted and devoted member of his team, assisting in the wake of Operation Pitfall, planning or when the Precursors would attack the earth again. By keeping busy and planning for the earth's defence, both had been able to gradually heal even though neither would ever truly recover from their past tragedies.

Closing the Breach had given humanity precious moments to regroup and rebuild, but the nations of the world realised that they had very little time to prepare for the inevitable return of the kaiju. Hercules Hansen became a familiar sight as he secured funds for the new Jaeger Programme, as he achieved the impossible and expedited the urgent construction of Mark 6 Jaegers. Although he had never thought of himself as a political leader, it was his conviction, integrity and persuasiveness that was almost single-handedly responsible for convincing the world to give the Jaeger programme another chance.

A year after the closure of the Breach, the kaiju returned – but the earth was ready this time. 

With an unexpectedly strong neural handshake, Herc and Mako had piloted their new Jaeger Eureka Danger – it couldn't have been named anything else - leading the fight against the kaiju. It had taken more than a year and there had been many casualties, but eventually the Precursors had been forced to retreat, their resources depleted and their invasion capabilities destroyed. The world finally dared to hope for peace. 

During the last months of the war, Mako had discovered to her shock that she was carrying Herc's child. It had of course been impossible to hide the information from him. In fact, his almost violent astonishment at the discovery whilst they were in the middle of Drifting had almost thrown them out of alignment. It was only his professionalism and years of experience that had enabled him to pull his chaotic thoughts back to the task at hand which was to kill the kaiju that they had been sent out to destroy.

"The fuck? Were you intending on tell me this news any time soon?" he had demanded as soon as they had returned to their quarters at the Sydney Shatterdome. To say that he was a little shocked to discover that he was going to be a father again was an understatement.

"We have been very busy," she had told him coolly, unzipping her flightsuit in their quarters. He had exhaled slowly and come and placed his hands on her slender shoulders, resting his forehead against hers.

"I'm sorry … it's just a bit ...unexpected," he had told her honestly. "But I'm happy about it – are you?" he had asked her and the smile in her eyes had made him laugh and pull her against him in a breathless embrace.

She couldn't remember the precise point at which their professional relationship had become friendship and when they had gone from being friends to lovers. It might have taken place after their first Drift together – when it was no longer possible to hide anything from the other, when both of them started living inside the other's head.

Regardless of when it had started, they had become so inextricably bonded, that she could no longer imagine falling asleep without his strong arms around her.

To her fury, he had proceeded to have her grounded, stood down from any further Jaeger duties – relegated to the LOCCENT. 

"You are not going to be piloting a Jaeger when you're fucking pregnant!" he had roared at her when she had protested his decision.

He hadn't even asked her how she had fallen pregnant. Mako herself hadn't known and had only been able to conclude that no birth control was infallible, even the Preventa patch in her left arm which all female Rangers had as a matter of course.

"What are you thinking about, love?" Herc asks her as he comes to drop down onto the blanket by her side, cradling a sleeping Yuki in his arms.

"About you – about how bossy you are," she tells him with a smile curving her mouth. He raises a quizzical eyebrow, the sun bringing out the redness in his hair and eyebrows and he leans towards her to kiss her lingeringly. Her skin is warm and sun-kissed and their lips taste of the ocean.

"I'm your commanding officer, I'm supposed to be bloody bossy," he says calmly.

He is much older than she is but it has never mattered even though he does piss her off sometimes by calling her his child-bride. 

He knows that at the time of Becket's death, she had started to have feelings for the Ranger - but there is no resentment or jealousy because he also knows that she has loved him for a very long time and that the desire and attraction has been mutual. 

Yuki sleeps peacefully beside them on the blanket, her small face shaded by the large beach umbrella and Herc takes the opportunity to reach out and draw his wife into his arms, cradling her against his hard, strong body.

Sometimes, he wakes up in the night, unable to believe that the kaiju are finally gone. They have lived with the threat and fear of monsters for such a long time that peacetime still seems so fragile and precarious. 

Mako runs a fingertip down the scars on his strong arms. She knows all of his scars and blemishes - she has kissed them all many times. He is a battle-scarred warrior and his strength and bravery have kept the monsters away.

"I love you, wife," he whispers in a low, husky voice as he leans in to kiss her. She closes her eyes, savouring the kiss, tasting his lips and breathing deeply of his clean masculine scent.

As the sun beats down around them and she can hear the sound of the waves breaking on the sand, Mako rejoices that her daughter will be able to grow up in a world where the colour blue represents beauty and peace again.


End file.
